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Salem is becoming a city that’s prepared to provide children with the support, help, and enrichment that they need to thrive, Emily Ullman says, instead of addressing crises after they occur. Ullman is the Director of Extended Learning Programs at Salem Public Schools. She’s also one of the city officials...

This year marks a significant milestone in the state’s rich history of leadership in education. It was 25 years ago that Massachusetts officials came together to pass the landmark Education Reform Act of 1993. With a huge infusion of new funding, much of it directed at districts educating lots of...

While it takes a village to raise a child, school officials are launching a campaign to help the village with the child's education as well. A confluence of programs are coming together in a new Salem Public Schools initiative called "Our Salem, Our Kids." Through it, the support of the...

Providence, RI- Mayor Jorge O. Elorza today announced that the Providence School Board formally approved the hiring of six school culture coordinators at a special public meeting held at the Providence Public School District’s offices last night. School culture coordinators represent a new initiative by Mayor Elorza and the school...

As the state’s secretary of education from 2008 to 2013, Paul Reville oversaw a public system that, thanks in part to landmark reform adopted in the early 1990s, was producing student success that ranked among the best in the nation.

LeAna Powell considered buying life insurance for her first-born son because she had seen too many black males killed in Oakland and didn’t want to be among the countless mothers she knew who struggled to pay for a funeral. It never occurred to her to plan for his college education,...

Libby Schaaf’s career—first as an attorney, then running a nonprofit, and now as mayor of Oakland—is the journey of a cross-sector leader. Mayor Libby Schaaf’s career wound its way through multiple sectors, starting when she was an attorney at the city’s largest law firm, always seeking a way to make...

Mayors have to demonstrate extraordinary network leadership to expand their reach and impact beyond the limits of their formal powers. Successful mayors are able to articulate a clear vision and recruit a range of public and private sector partners to implement city improvement strategies. For example, though he did not...

Political leaders at all levels, in all parties, continually pledge to expand opportunity and close gaps caused by poverty and inequality. But what would it take to really deliver on those promises? One approach is to put children at the center of these aspirations and to align community services and...

In an era of widespread disagreement on education reform, increased confidence in local control of education, and the absence of a dominant theory on where reform goes from here, visionary mayors are emerging as leaders of thought and action in defining a new role for municipalities to play in developing...